The present invention relates to a method for reducing reactive metals (zirconium, hafnium, or titanium) from a chloride to metallic form, and in particular to a process which lends itself to continuous production.
Zirconium, hafnium, and titanium are commonly reduced from the chloride by means of a reducing metal such as magnesium or sodium. At the present time, the commercial processes are batch-type processes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,460, for example, describes a process of introducing zirconium tetrachloride vapor onto molten magnesium, with the zirconium being reduced and traveling through the magnesium layer to the bottom of the reactor and with the by-product magnesium chloride being periodically removed.
In commercial processes, a portion of the by-product salt (e.g. magnesium chloride) is removed manually after the batch has been completed and cooled, and the remainder of the salt and the remaining excess reducing metal is reduced in a distillation or leaching process.